Magical Girl Shieldmaiden Gyda
by EpicFightingTroper
Summary: The only daughter of Ragnar Lodbrok meets the legendary staff of the White Devil. History will never be the same again.
1. Chapter 1: A Most Mysterious Encounter

Just as was the fate of their predecessors, Al-Hazard and The Belkan Empire, the Time-Space Administration Bureau, who, for the last eon or so was _the_ defining superpower in dimensional space, fell eventually.

Of course, all empires fall, but Mage societies seem cursed to leave bigger and deeper scars with their demise than anything else in the universe. It was almost sad, really.

The TSAB had made huge leaps and strides, advanced far since the days of the White Devil and Riot Force Six. Nothing and nobody else could stop them. They were already very prominent when they first started, being one of the scant handfuls to start rebuilding after the fall of Belka, but eventually roads in the universe lead to them, or something that belonged to them, or affiliated with them.

Science, Art, Medicine, everything was advancing rapidly. Too rapidly, some may add.

But their ultimate downfall came in the work of a then-new field of research: Chronophysics. Studying the flow of time and how one may control it via magic. A chance success in a lab at the edge of reality opened a window into a terrifying conflict, a war hidden from them until that moment in time. A time war. A war with past, present and future as the battlefield, control of cause and effect the ultimate prize, and casualty it's worst victim.

The once noble Administration (which was really more of galaxy-spanning republic by that time) was never the same again. Countless perished, as one of the factions in the war sought to use the magic of the Mid-Childians to gain an advantage, and so forcibly dominated them until they ceased to be of use.

The TSAB didn't last long afterwards.

But still, there was hope. A chance to fling a light into the future. Or the past, as was the case.

* * *

><p><strong>Mid-Childa, AD 6550718635, just before the end<strong>

Chief Librarian Solaris Scrya looked around at his companions, a motley crew of fellow librarians, archaeologists, historians, crafters and engineers.

They were in a mostly untouched section of the Infinite Library, collapsed pillars and bookshelves could be seen all around them. Out there, in the distance, one could almost hear the sounds of magic. Destructive magic.

But in here, there would be no destruction. Scrya hobbles forward, using his staff-like device as a walking cane of sorts. His time in the world in almost over, but for now, he has enough time to do what he came here to do.

In front of him sat a squat, gunmetal-grey vessel which he knew contained several of the most important artefacts in the Beauru's storied history.

He opened it part of the way through and carefully pulled out two of the most important pieces in the collection, a small red sphere of a gem, and a small golden triangle.

**[Sir]** they both replied, in monotone, robotic tones that were nevertheless, filled with emotion.

"Ah yes. Bardiche, Raising Heart, the time has come. Farewell, you two, and thank you for your service. For everything you have done for your masters, for my family, and for the Beauru. May you bring happiness into the lives of whatever new Masters you may chose, out there. They are lucky, for the Aces will be reborn in them, I feel."

He closes his eyes.

**[Yes, sir. Farewell, sir.]** the two devices reply.

The Librarian smiles at them, and puts them back in the vessel. There is an explosion behind him. The enemy has found them. They will not survive the night. And yet, the old librarian smiles. He nods to one of personell standing by.

"Open the Dimensional Portal!"

And so a Dimensional Portal was opened, and through it the vessel was shoved. Not just at any old planet, though, but one with people of enough magic potential to be able to use the artefacts within. One far enough into the past that paradox would be nearly naught. Coincidentally, the planet happened to be the same one where two of the Three Aces hailed from: Earth.

* * *

><p><strong>Eastern Baltic, 793 AD<strong>

The air is filled with the stench of the dead. Bodies littered with arrows, axes and round shields cover the ground like a man-made layer of soil. The clouds are dark and stormy, a pretty afternoon this is not

In the middle of it all stands a man. There is blood dripping down the side of his face, and his breathing is laboured.

He is here to kill men.

One of those men charges forward, a small sword held high. He counters with his axe, but after a brief exchange, the top is cut off. No matter.

He punches the enemy full-on in the face, grabs his sword hand and forces his own sword into his gut.

Another warrior charges. "Ragnar!" an ally yells. Not just any ally, but his brother. He throws him a new axe to replace the one that broke, and they both go straight back to killing.

There are hardly any other beings alive on that hillside other than Ragnar and his brother, but the former soon spots a straggler, a fleeing enemy, out the corner of his eye.

Were he another type of warrior, he might have just let him go. After all, what danger can a fleeing, weaponless man be?

Be he is not just any warrior, he is a Viking.

And so, he pick up a bloodied spear from the ground, and hurls it at the running man. The spear pierces his heart with perfect accuracy, and he goes down.

Exhausted, the brothers approach each other, and embrace. Ragnar says his thanks, and the other man nods, and collapses.

But Ragnar does not collapse. Instead, he sees...

Ravens. Lots of ravens. Ravens circling the dead, heralding the thunerstorm just above.

And in their midst, he sees an old man, wearing a pointed hat, a riding cloak, and a spear.

_Odin!_

He points his spear at one dead warrior, and then another, and another. As he does so, beautiful specteres of women come down and take them into the heavens. Into Valhalla.

And then, he approaches Ragnar.

Ragnar staggers back, overwhelmed at his presence, but Odin merely points at the ground, near Ragnar. No, something _on_ the ground. He points and keeps on pointing at that spot.

Ragnar kneels down, follows the spear and peers at the undergrowth. In it rests a red jewel. Loot.

He doesn't need the King of Gods To tell him that getting loot from defeated enemies is good, but he feels that this treasure isn't merely something you can sell to some merchant for a sack of coins, or string it as part of a necklace to give to a pretty girl. No, this jewel is far more than merely that, though even great men such as him are hindered by his place and time, and so could not even begin to imagine all the strange and wonderful things that were about to be set loose upon his world.

So instead, he thought about his children. Bjorn definitely does not seem the type to like fineries such as this, and Lagherta would probably take it as an insult that anything but his manhood would make up for his absence, but Gyda...

Come to think of it, he wasn't spending a lot of time with his dear daughter, wasn't he? She would like something like this...

Numbly, he reaches down to pick it up.

The last thing he saw before collapsing from exhaustion himself was, oddly, his beloved daughter Gyda, flying through the skies.

* * *

><p>Knee-deep in a river, a mother and daughter stand at ready, fishing tridents at hand, pointed towards the water. They are fishing.<p>

The daughter, Gyda, thrusts downwards. "Eh, I missed."

Almost in response, her mother thrusts downwards, and raises her trident from the water, revealing a fish trapped between tines.

Smiling back at her daughter, she turns to go. "Come on, let's go."

But Gyda feels staying there for a little while longer. She feels the blood-red jewel worn around her neck, a gift from her father after one of his overseas raids to the east. She considers using it to cheat. Just a little. If it can actually be called that. After all, spears are used in both war and hunting, right?

She held the jewel in her hand. _Raising Heart, please lend me your strength!_

Raising Heart was having none of it, though.

**[This combat device prefers that it not be used in trivial and non-combat matters, my Master.]**

_Oh, come on! Please!?_

**[… Very well.]**

* * *

><p>All things considered, Gyda considered it very lucky that nobody noticed the massive amounts of dead fish floating downstream until much later. Or the fact that the river now went up to one's waist instead of to one's knees.<p>

The day after the fishing incident, which is what Gyda dubbed it in her mind, she saw off her father and brother, going on a trek to the thing, her mother holding her by her side. As they left, she spoke with her new friend, Raising Heart.

They did not use mouths to speak, nor did they need to. One could simply "think out" what he or she wishes to say, and the gem was able to respond in kind. Raising Heart had called this kind of thing "telepathy", and says that it is an invocation of magic.

Upon mention of magic, Gyda's thoughts went to the magic users of her society, the seers and prophets and vǫlva. She thought of the Seer that the people of Kattegat visit, the strange hooded man with black lips and forever closed eyes, and while Raising Heart concedes that a few magic users it was familiar with had wielded their in a similar way, the main way it was used back in the lands it was made was vastly different.

After the men of the house has long since left, and when she was sure her shieldmaiden of a mother was not looking, Raising Heart showed her scenes of war and battle, far greater than any account of battle that she overheard from warriors like her father and uncle. No, these battles were vast, and lilting. Colourful, and full of emotion, but with every capacity for brutality as more medievil warfare.

A common element in many of the videos was a little girl named Nanoha Takamachi. Gyda scoffed when she heard about her being one of the TSAB's greatest warriors, but when she saw her in action, she scoffed no longer.

She was amazed at her exploits, and also at the exploits of her comrades, of Fate the Lightning Bolt, and of the Cloud Knights of the Tome of the Night Sky. But most of all, what she was most captivated by, what drew her attention the most, was how they treated their enemies.

They did not kill their enemies in cold blood. No, instead, they would "befriend" them. Make them your allies by showing them they are wrong, even if one has to use excessive force to communicate their feelings to them.

Sure, their magic they use is a big part of it, but the young Norse girl liked to think the difference between her world and Nanoha's world is as much ideological as it was technological.

Soon, she fell asleep, her device at her side, dreaming of magic.

* * *

><p>The leaves crushed underfoot as Gyda's boots trampled over them.<p>

It had been a somewhat scary week for the town at the moment. Just after father and brother had left for the thing, a string of mysterious deaths started happening on the outskirts of town. Young men and women, brutally killed with an array of claw markings, like those of an animal.

If that were that, than the whole case would probably have been dismissed as careless hunting, but what made it unsettling, was the fact that the bodies all were found thin and impossibly emancipated, as if someone sucked out all their blood and internal organs, leaving only the skin and bones.

At no time at all, accusations started flying around. Spirits! Monsters! Mad old hermits living in the wilderness! What was known, though, was the fact that they all happened just outside the boundaries of the town.

Which is where Gyda currently is now, both feet resting in he wilderness, but still mindful of the bustle of people close by. Her mother had sent her on an errand to buy some stuff from the marketplace, but the place currently had way more people than she was comfy with. She was born and raised a farm girl, through and through.

She did realise the possible danger she could be in, but in her mind, those attacks happened to other people. She reckoned it wouldn't happen to her.

It did happen to her.

Stepping around the truck of a particularly huge tree, she saw a nasty sight, a wolf chowing down on a dead body.

Except, wait, that didn't look like any wolf she had ever seen before. It was larger than a man, with pitch-black fur that reflected the sunlight like it were made of oil. And when it turned it's head to look at her, she shivered at it's dead grey eyes.

Wait, it noticed her? _Shi-!_

**[Protection!]**

Just in time, the jewel on her necklace shouted out, and a glowing pink wall appeared, knocking the beast flat unto it's back.

"Wha, what just happened?"

Gyda blinked, and looked down at herself.

The humble tunic and trousers she'd been wearing just a few moments ago were gone, replaced by a proud green vest and darker forest-green skirt, both with prominent pink trim. She also felt a weight around her shoulders and realised she was also wearing a hooded cloak, this time pink with a dark-green trim.

**[Master, we must seal it! Please, follow my instructions.]**

"Seal it? Ah, right, is this one of the "Lost Logia" that your former masters used to hunt, right?"

**[Affirmative. Now please, this is what we must do to seal it.]**

"Right." she says, taking a deep breath, as she saw the monster starting to get back up again.

**[Please repeat after me.]**

"Lost Logia no. 643, The Wolf of Blackened Oil, Seal It!"

And so it it was sealed. Before the beast could react, she thrusted out her device like a spear at it, reducing it to something smaller than her hand. It looked like a cube. She saw it being absorbed into Raising Heart, who simply said:

**[Sealing Confirmed]**

. . .

After a few moments, she blinked.

"That was _amazing!_" she said.

* * *

><p>Screaming in pain, a grizzled black hound with eyes an unearthly shade of red struggles to free itself from the yellow binds that tie it to the ground.<p>

It's struggle only gets more pronounced as it sees the flash of a yellow-bladed polearm, flashing with magic.

The magical blade strikes it. "Lost Logia no. 986, Hound of Blacker Darkness, _sealing!_" a young woman's voice called out.

Whining, the hound is reduced to a trinket, a small card with a picture of the beast it transforms into emblazoned on it's surface. Only the way it catches the light gives any hints as to it's true nature.

The girl with the magical polearm stuffed the artefact in a pocket, and spoke to her device.

"That's the third time this week, do you think mother will be satisfied?"

The device, Bardiche, does not respond, for it has no answer for her. It's crystal blinks, however, acknowledging her question.

"Ah, well, she'll probably be satisfied, I mean, the thing's been terrorising this village for months now. It is truly a good thing that it is now sealed for good. Yes, I think mother will have no choice _but_ be satisfied, who knows how many lives I saved, after all?" she says to her weapon, rubbing her face with it affectionately.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, her mother, the wife of the Earl, watched her from the safety of her home, with warding spells all around to discourage anyone from awkwardly stumbling upon her at this unholy hour. Including her husband, as much as she may love him, he simply wouldn't understand.

Smirking, she leaned back on her chair. Yes, yes, soon it will all be alright. Soon, none will threaten and bring ruin to this family. They won't even think of such a foolish notion, once she has showed them all what her family is truly capable of. Axes and spears may be what occupies the thoughts of most warriors in this land, but they are are capable of so much more than that.

Yes, yes, soon, all will be well.

But not now, no, if there is anything she could say she has learned from being the wife of a feared and respected Earl, it would be that acting too rashly will almost certainly lead to your downfall. No, best not break the secret of magic until the time when she can blindside everyone and their father's fathers with it.

Everything is going according to plan.


	2. Chapter 2: Mahou Shoujo Days

Considering it's a tree that's about the size of a multi-storey building, and that it suddenly appeared in broad daylight, firing magic lasers from the tips of it's branches, it's a wonder that the populace of the several-hundreds-strong, iron-age, rural coastal village didn't succumb to utter panic and declarations of Ragnarok.

Of course, that might be because those people are shuffling around, their bodies commanded about by ancient magic.

They just so happened to be _also_ firing magic space lasers.

Flying low to prevent being an open target, she dove in and behind a stone house. A barrage of magic followed her, and a lot of hay and wooden structures surrounding it get set on fire.

Looking over the side of the house, Gyda winced. Magic may be perfectly non-lethal, but it isn't so merciful to the surroundings.

Looking at the hundreds of ensorcelled normals between her and that damn magic tree, she decided she needed a distraction.

Calling upon a huge mass of mana, she clumped it outside of herself and formed a spectre of pulsating pink light, roughly the size of her. She gives to it her outer Barrier Jacket, a pink hood and cloak with a drak-green trim.

Asking Raising Heart to take such a large amout of mana and bind it into a shape that vaguely resembles her was tiring enough. But now she's sending it out to fool the mass of ensorcelled while sneaking out the other end. If she gets caught and fired upon while in this state, she wouldn't be able to effectively fight back.

Still, she did it.

Sending out her magical doppelganger to draw enemy fire (and attention) away from her hiding place, she quickly zoomed out from her hiding place, staying low, flitting from building to building. She had set her little distraction to take a hit seemingly fall behind yet another stone building quite a ways away from here, leading the mass of ensorcelled to rush the stone building and away from the primary Lost Logia in a bid to end the magical girl once and for all.

Despite herself, Gyda smiled.

Dashing out of her hiding place right next to the giant, multi-storey tree, she raised Raising Heart, ready to seal it. She wasn't wearing her full barrier jacket, having expended too much magic for that. Instead, it was just the green undershirt part over her physical wear.

One of the many, many eyes stuck to the side of the tree swiveled around and spot Gyda, but it was too little, too late.

"Lost Logia no. 157, Hypnosis Seed, _seal!_"

It's been a handful of days she was put to the task of dealing with the sudden arrival of Lost Logia, ancient magic and machines from worlds beyond this one, far older than even the most entrenched and storied of family lines.

One could say it was a little much for any person, let alone a young girl of her age. Gyda personally thought that she could get _quite_ used to this, actually.

* * *

><p>Getting kneed in the stomach, and then punched in the face, are all rather painful experiences.<p>

It worried Lando, then, that he might almost be getting used to it.

"Hah! Just a little scrape, and your nose goes crazy with the bleedin'? What _weaksauce!_ No wonder father doesn't want ya to go on his raids. You're dead the moment someone looks at you funny!"

And with one final kick to the ribs, his brothers walked off, laughing.

Groaning, he rolled over, clutching his side. At least it wasn't as bad as yesterday. Yesterday they stole his wooden practice sword and shield and used it to feed the fireplace, claiming that they were hardly put to better used then when he was the one using them. It was a fact that he couldn't refute, it was the truth. He was a man who couldn't fight. Now, he had nothing else to lose, not even his pride.

_I wish I was stronger. I really, really wish I was stronger._

* * *

><p><em>Magic requires Energy. Your own body produces some, but if you want to cause bigger things than a mere stinging sensation, you'll need to Borrow a lot of it. That or Train.<em>

Siggy remembered the first time she saw magic.

_In Magic, your mind is the ultimate weapon. Axes and Spears may aid you, but a sufficiently skilled wielder of Magic can end your average Raider before they're aware that they're even in danger in the first place._

She remembered following her father out the door as a mere child. He was holding a knife in one hand, and a doll on the other.

_A Part of One can affect the Whole. Blood is the best medium for this, though if pressed, Hair, Skin and Treasured Items may also do in a pinch._

The doll shaped like a wolf, and stuffed _with_ the fur of a wolf, he told her. She herself was carrying a small cup of blood, careful not to spill a drop, let she risk her father's wrath.

_Magic is not something alien to this world. Close your eyes, Siggy, and open your core. Can't you hear the magic, streaming though the wind and waves?_

Moving down the farm yard, she could see them. The pack of wolves her parents kept and fed, despite not using them for anything at all, never once letting them out of their pen, with sides a few meters high to deter them leaping over to escape, making it more like an open-air cell than anything else. She had always wondered about them.

But she was here to find out. After endlessly bugging him about it, he told her that he would finally use those mutts for something, and she was coming along with him.

The wolves perked up, having noticed her father stopping in front of their holding place. They seem to expect him to start feeding them, as was the case for the last few weeks since their capture. They have become disgustingly used to depending solely on another living being for their sustenance, a high fall from the mighty predators they were.

But her father would soon ease their pain. He asked her to hold out the cup of blood, and he dipped his knife in the blood.

He then stabbed the wolf doll right in where it's gut would be.

The effect was instantaneous. The body of one of the wolves near the point in the cage where they were the nearest sank down to it's knees, blood pooling out from beneath it. Her father dipped his knife in the cup of blood once again, and pulled out another stuffed wolf doll.

This time, instead of a stab to the gut, he sawed off the doll's head. Another one of the wolves _howled_ as massive, gaping, _moving_ wounds were forming around it's neck. Eventually, at the same time, the doll's head plopped off, the real wolves' head had dropped off and landed in the grass, a geyser of blood shooting out and reddening the grass.

Siggy's jaw dropped.

Ever since then, she had learned everything her parent's could teach her. The ability to manipulate the environment and other beings via force of will and elaborate arithmetic, an ability that hardly anyone but them knew, because they were the only ones they knew who were capable of such things.

That was then, when Siggy was still smaller than a mutt. Now, she was a woman, married to Earl Haraldson, ruler of Kattegat.

She was making plans to mentor her children in the same manner, in the same subjects that she was subjected to.

This was long before the incident with the off-world artefacts.

Now, creatures and items have appeared that were far beyond the scope of Midgard to handle, she knew they were off-world because she recalled her father's repeated mention of worlds other than this one every time he got the chance, and because they gave off the _wrong_ frequency of magic, completely independent from the familiar rhythm she had found shared between men, beasts, the land, and the sea.

Seeing Thyri, her dear daughter, with a charm, a contraption that helped concentrate and automate such as Bardiche was a massive shock. It was magic, but done in a way that seemingly went against everything she knew about the practice. The device _did_ reassure her, telling her that her magic and daughter's magic was the same, only the latter's was helped along by a incredibly advanced intelligence, but she was still unsettled...

Still.

Still, she realised, now she was living in one of the interesting times in living memory. Artefacts of great power from beyond the void of the night sky were now scattered throughout the land, ripe for the taking by those with the means and the will to take them.

And now, her loyal, loving daughter shows up with one of those artefacts, a living polearm that serves her like her own personal thrall, with power enough to take her to the skies and put these "Lost Logia" under it's control.

Siggy was a cunning woman. She was not about to let an opportunity like this slip by her like a fish in a stream. She would catch it, with bare hands, even, if there happened to be nothing else left.

* * *

><p><em>R-Really? You think there's another mage here, living in Kattegat!?<em>

**[It is the most reasonable conclusion I have reached, my master. These Lost Logia we have been sealing, they have been sealed before. My database recognises them.]**

_So I guess they simply can't get un-sealed by crashing into something really hard, right?_

**[My master, magic can only unlock magic. The TSAB had been layering protection spells on the artefacts that they have found for many millions of years before they were ended. Even a top-level mage would find difficulty in unlocking them without significant time expense.]**

_B-B-But that means whoever them is releasing is as strong, if not stronger, than a top-level mage!_

**[Indeed, master. While this planet has been, will be where the TSAB's most celebrated Ace Mages hail from, this combat unit still finds it very unusual regardless.]**

_. . . Gah! . . . I guess this is rather selfish to admit, but I was also kind of annoyed that I'm not the only one with magic around any more._

Raising Heart did not have an answer for that.

_S-Sorry Raising Heart, I know you may not understand this, since all of your previous masters probably knew more magical people than non-magical ones, but, before all... _this, _I was just a simple farm girl, you know? I wasn't at all good at hand-to-hand combat. You, know, using swords and spears and hand-held shields, trying to make your opponents bleed? It was the only form of combat that I knew before I met you, Raising Heart._

The magical transformation trinket -slash- weapon-of-mass-destruction blinked it's acknowledgement. Gyda looked around. Yet again, she was in the town marketplace, this time accompanying her mother.

_But it wasn' that I was less-than-stellar at it, no, it was that I didn't want to get better at the shield and axe. I didn't want to hurt people. I was too afraid._

**[...]**

_And if I've never met you, than maybe I would've become stuck to the peasant life, marrying a man, living in a farm, doing housework, bearing children... /she shuddered/. And that would've been the end of it. Content, maybe, but always wondering what might have been. It scared/ me, you know? The future. I always felt that there was more I could do with my life other than fight and farm, fight and farm, fight and farm... and then going to Valhalla, where I won't need to farm anymore, but all that leaves is making fighting, and then getting killed, and then fighting, and then getting killed again, the only thing you can/ do reasonably do anymore. I-I felt like..._

She gripped Raising Heart hard.

_I felt like I had no control over my destiny. None at all._

She held up her device at eye-level, looking at it. If Raising Heart were shaped like a human, she would've looked it straight in the eyes.

_But the moment I met you, I realised what I could do, for myself! A new path that I could walk, and me alone!_

_And for that I thank you Raising Heart, I thank you with every fiber of my being..._

The two do not speak, for a moment. But then the hyper-advanced, magitech AI called Raising Heart responds.

**[Do not worry, master. This Device understands completely.]**

Upon Gyda's questioning look, Raising Heart continued.

**[When my former master Nanoha Takamachi first received me, she was in a very similar place in her life.]** the device explained. **[She too, like you, felt useless and was not quite sure what to do with her life. She was one of the most fiercely independent people this combat device has come to be familiar with. Her family were warriors as well, albeit non-magical ones, and she hated being a burden. So when came the opportunity to do some right in the world, to be useful, she jumped at the chance, and when it turns out that she immensely skilled with it, she never looked back.**

**This combat device believes that Master Gyda can also be the same, that she can find her own purpose in life if she so wanted to... and whatever path she chooses, this device will stand right by her until the end.]**

Gyda looked at her device in wonder.

_Yes, you're right! I don't know what in the world am I weeping around for! I have, I am/ doing good for my people. I battle and seal dangerous magical artefacts, so that innocent people don't have to suffer! And if what you say is true, Raising Heart, and there is another mage here, one who is unleashing these Lost Logia on the people, then that is one enemy I, Gyda, daughter of Ragnar Lodbrok, will gladly fight!_

It took all her self-control at the moment to _not_ transform in the middle of the crowd and fly off to blow up gods-know-what.

_Oh, what the hell, just look at me. I keep on whining about not being special anymore, and yet my father has left to sail to the west, against the Earl's wishes, based on nothing but tall tales. I guess one doesn't have to have magic to be someone special, just a lot of fearlesness._

_Still, I'm really worried though, for father..._

_"Gyda!"_

Her mother's sharp voice pierced through the conversation like a knife through butter. "What is making you take your time, young lady?"

It was then that Gyda realised that she had stopped walking somewhere in the middle of her very engaging conversation with Raising Heart. She flushed in embarrassment. "C-Coming, mother! She said, rushing forward."

* * *

><p><strong>[Master. Lost Logia detected within 1000 metres of current position.]<strong>

_Right!_

"Um, mom, I really have to go to the latrine."

Her mom sighed. "Gyda, I've always told you to go before we leave the house. Can you hold it in a little while longer?"

"N-No..." Gyda shook her head. "I really, really, _really_ have to go!"

"… Fine, fine. Go. But we're going to have a little talk when we get back home, young lady." she said as Gyda ran off, with Bjorn snickering behind them.

Ducking behind a building hardly anyone uses, Gyda transformed into her Barrier Jacket, a mouldable, wearable, personal shield of mana that are a mainstay of users of magecraft everywhere. Her normal robes fall away, only to be quickly replaced by a green vest and darker forest-green skirt, both with prominent pink highlights, and over that was a hooded cloak, pink with dark-green highlights.

She flew off in a streak in pink light and saw it from the air, the Lost Logia.

It was a huge pulsating mass of sickly green flesh, with multiple, long, whiplike appendages on it. Flying closer, she could see what appeared to be a large gemstone set partly within the creature's "forehead", and upon even closer inspection, she could see... a person!?

Yes, a person! A youth was unconscious within the giant genstone, curled up in a fetal position.

_R-Raising Heart! There's a boy! There's a boy inside that thing!_

**[… Yes, my Master. Many Lost Logia have an emotional energy matrix that enables them to react to and gain power from the sufficiently strong emotions of people.]**

"What in Odin's name is-_AAH!_"

Gyda spotted a man getting his leg snatched by a tentacle, and being led to another tentacle with a big, gaping mouth at it's end.

"No!" Gyda cried out, and pointed Raising Heart in his direction.

**[Shoot.]**

A barrage of pink lasers stabbed through the tentacles, but most of them weaved skillfully around them like abominable gymnasts.

**[Divine Shooter.]**

A series of pink orbs came after, but what happened to them was even more preposterous. Those tentacles with mouths came up to them and ate/ them like a nice mid-afternoon snack.

_Ah, th-they ate them!_

**[Master, enemy appendages incoming.]**

_Wha-GET BACK!_

Gyda rapidly retreated out of the range of the creature, many, many tentacles.

_Huh, these tentacles are really annoying me… Ah, I know! Raising Heart, can you make these modifications to Divine Shooter, please?_

**[It can be done, my Master]**

_Great! Here I come!_

She sent out another barrage of pink orbs. As expected, the appendages devour them, but right before they are fully absorbed, they detonate. Tentacles are blown apart and get separated from the main body. The creature pauses in apparent shock.

_There, an opening!_

Gyda rushes in while the creature is distracted, and flies up to the body encased in gemstone.

_Is he alright, Raising Heart?_

**[Yes, His vital signs are intact, my master.]**

_Then do you think I can talk to him telepathically?_

**[If the Master wishes, then it will be done.]**

And so it was done. Gyda started to hear a second voice in her head as she started to concentrate.

_I'm weak._

_What?_

_I'm weak. My brothers always beat me to a pulp seven days a week, and my father won't let me bring me with him to the raids to the east. I'm an embarrassment to my family._

Gyda blinked. Well, this was new. But she had to save the day and save it soon, so there was no time for subtlety here. She took a deep breath.

_Alright, SHUT YOUR WHINING, MAGGOT, AND LISTEN UP!_

_Wha-Y-Yes Ma'am!_

_Good. Now, you say you're weak, young man, that you're a shame and embarrassment to your family, is that it!?_

_Y-Yes, I'm afraid so-_

_Well, you'll continue to be so unless you _stop thinking_ about such silly things. The first step in fulfilling any goal is start _believing_ that you can do it, and purge any thoughts that say otherwise! Think positively, is what I say!_

_Believing?_

_Yes. Now, right now, you're depression is causing a great and vile beast that draws strength from negativity to manifest itself and to start snacking on your fellow townsfolk! Can you live with yourself, knowing that this atrocity came about because you were too busy hating yourself!?_

_T-That's preposterous, there's no way-_

_It's true. Just look for it in your heart._

… _My god, it's true! What you're saying is true! What am I going to do with myself!_

_Calm down. There _is_ one thing you can do. This monster uses you to power itself, so deny it that power! Fight against it's control! Think happy thoughts!_

_That's... I'll try. I don't know if I can actually make a difference, but I'll try._

It was about this time that the tentacles started noticing Gyda again, and they rushed towards her location, hoping to devour her and her tasty linker core. But just a few inches from her, the tentacles stopped a little short. They shook and shivered, as if they were trying to break free of an invisible net.

_There. You've done good, you've done _very_ good. Now, please forgive me, young warrior, but I believe this is going to hurt just a little bit._

**[Master, let's shoot it. Divine Buster.]**

_Yes, let's._

At that command, magical energy began to coalesce on the tip of Raising Heart. A magic circle forms under her feet.

_"Shoot!"_

A pink beam fired from the tip of her talking staff, all the way to crystalline prison of the boy/name. It holds, but then a few cracks form.

Gyda gritted her teeth.

The cracks grow larger, and larger, until it shatters and the young lad falls out. The tentacled Lost Logia gave out an inhuman wail of despair, before melting into mass of disgusting green.

Diving down, Gyda caught the falling boy in her arms. His eyes open, and stared at the girl in the glowing clothes, carrying him in her arms and flying through the air in defiance of all logic.

His eyes closed again and his head tilted back.

**[He is unconscious.]**

_Thank you, Raising Heart._

Putting him down in an area that made it plausible for him to conclude that he must've just fallen asleep and dreamt up the whole crazy thing, Gyda looked about.

There were unconscious victims everywhere, and some of them were starting to waking up.

Time to finish this now, then.

"Lost Logia no. 166, Oob-Niggurah, _seal!_"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, high up in the sky, beyond the sight of anybody but the keenest of hawk-eyes, the Earl's daughter stood, on a glowing golden circle of runes and glyphs, and watched the fight's conclusion intently.<p>

_My, my..._ Thyri thought to herself. _She's strong. Clever, too, far more than one __would expect from a simple farmer's daughter. And one without a single drop of magical heritage, too, if mother is to be believed..._

Her eyes stared down in appreciation, then are cast upwards, towards the sky, her tone turning regretful, almost wistful.

_Too bad she has to be killed. Her and her entire, traitorous, family... All for the greater good, of course._


	3. Chapter 3: Tension Rising

Siggy was not a person who cared much about the politics of Nordic society. Her family back then didn't concern themselves with worldly affairs themselves, satisfied to eek out a living at the edge their village, curing those with ailments not known to normal physicians, as well as fortune-telling and house-blessing for those ambitious and superstitious.

But look where that got them.

The fact that non-magicians were not completely helpless against those with magic, especially when fuelled with the dark ale of fear and paranoia, was a childhood lesson more painful than any spell of skin-flaying torture she could think of.

She was not going to let such a thing happen again.

She waved the lantern laft, and then right. Satisfied with knowing that she was alone at the moment, the Earl's wife muttered a few words under her breath, words that nobody could mistake for ordinary Norse if they ever heard her, and blew out the flame.

Any ordinary person would be in total darkness, of course, but Siggy is not merely another woman of these ancient times. Those words she muttered were heard by the many sigils that lined the room she now stepped into, a room that nobody else but one knows exist. Not because it was hidden from sight, accessible only through hidden doors and such, but because Siggy made it so that ordinary people would merely ignore it when they saw it and ignore it when it left their sight.

It was very convenient thing, magic.

As she entered the hidden room, she felt the presence of someone other than herself, approaching from the far side of the room, even though there were no windows and only one, very compact door, through which Siggy had just entered through.

"Good evening, mother."

"Ah, good evening, my little Thyri." she said, turning around and giving her daughter a smile.

It was unusual, what Thyri was wearing, and since I have yet to describe her wardrobe to you fair readers, let me describe it to you right now.

Her barrier jacket was a black riding cloak with an equally black undershirt, trousers and boots, all of them adorned with glowing yellow streaks that suggested lightning bolts amidst a stormy sky.

"I did it, I got that monster you were so fixated on, mother." she said, holding up her curious yellow gem, Bardiche. On unspoken command, the device flashed an image of the creature: A great serpent, clad in lightning and blackened scales.

Of course she was so fixated on that monster's capture. She recognised the creature for what it was, a Dragon, one aligned with the forces of Lightning, specifically, and newly-arrived, too. It had not yet acclimated itself to the local environment, and thus the powerful creature was ripe for easy capture.

"Yes, yes, very good, Thyri..." Siggy smiled without deceit, one she rarely showed to anyone else but her. "But I presume that's not the only thing you've done between here and that other town? You have travelled quite a distance to capture that, after all."

"Well, I did capture another creature while I was heading home. It was a small thing, not anything much of note, mother." And that this statement, Bardiche flashed the slowly rotating image of what looked like oversized bunny rabbit.

At seeing her mother nod, Thyri found it fit to continue.

"A-Also, mother, while I was there, I-I kind of... bought you something..." she said, reaching within her black robes and pulling out a small basket.

One eye raised, she took a look at the rows of foodstuffs inside, and pulled one out. "Ah, these are..."

"Um, I didn't see anything like it, in Kattegat, so I thought: "I'm already here, why not buy a bunch?" I'm so, so sorry if I wasted any money, ma, I-"

Resting a palm on her forehead, Siggy spoke. "Now, now, do not worry about such things. I did not expect this, but, I appreciate it. However, this old witch thinks you can do better. Capturing just _two_ of them in a day? I _know_ my daughter can do far better than that. Now then, it is late, my dear, it is best you went to your bed."

Now, she was alone again. While it was nice to see her daughter progressing along quite nicely in her magic, that was not the real reason she had come here, to this room.

In one corner of the room, sat an altar. It would not be unusual for a woman of her stature to have a personal altar and idol for private worship of the gods, but this altar was not dedicated to any member of the Aesir. For that matter, any god found here on Earth.

Bowing down before the altar to the alien god, she asked for strength to continue this path. And with that, she could feel magic entering her from beyond the stars.

* * *

><p>The fish were gutted, the garden was weeded, the wood box was filled and the feed delivered to the livestock, so there was not much else to do on the small farm they all called home. And so, Gyda sat back on the back doorway to their house and watched her mother and her brother spar with wooden swords and shields, her legs having unconsciously adopted a <em>seiza<em> position.

Gyda sat back as she watched her mother and her broher spar with wooden swords and shields.

Lagherta was, predictably, far better than her son. Despite not having taken part in a raid once since the day her children were born, the skills that created her legend did not diminish in the least.

Bjorn was way into it, letting out blow after blow, not letting up as her mother kept her head low behind her shield. But she was patient. He soon overstretched himself, uncontrollably stumbling past his mother as soon as she took a simple step to the side.

The storied shieldmaiden kicked her soon's knees from behind, forcing him to topple and kneel, before holding her mock-sword to his neck.

She then poked at his neck with the practice weapon, causing him to gag slightly and fall flat on the ground.

"If that were a real battle, you would've ended up without a head, young man." she quipped, before looking over at Gyda's direction.

"Ah, Gyda, come and join us. It's been quite some time since I've done this kind of thing, now I want to know if my daughter can actually hold her own, unlike my pitiful son here." she said in jest, poking at Bjorn's fallen form, who only groaned in response.

Technically, it was well within Gyda's power to solo her entire family at once, (in addition to every other man, woman, child and wild animal in Kattegat), before blowing up all the ships in the harbour as an encore, with only a fair bit of mana exhaustion afterwards (after all,there _are_ a lot of ships residing in the harbour at any given moment, and viking shipwrights weren't known for being shoddy at their work, after all), but she wasn't sure she was ready to tell them that yet.

That wasn't an exaggeration, by the way. She actually asked Raising Heart do the math for this one.

It was unquestionable that she had the overwhelming advantage over anyone else there. That being magic. She didn't know about other lands, the ones over the far seas where adults sail to and tread, but here, she was the only mage for miles and miles around (not counting the mysterious other mage), so was it really fair to wield such awe-inspiring, earth-shaking power, while everyone else was stuck with simple spears and axes?

She was not really sure.

**[This device believes it is good to practice with melee weaponary, even if Master won't be using such for more serious purposes. At the very least, it will give Master an idea on what actions to take should an enemy come into too close a range.]** Raising Heart opinioned.

Gyda blinked. She remembered all the fearsome footage of Belka-style mages getting up close and personal with more long-distance oriented fighters, and winced. She did _not _want to be at the receiving end of one of those devices.

_Yeah, I guess it makes sense... _she thought, more to herself than to Raising Heart.

Shaking her head in amusement, she walked over and joined the other two members of her family.

* * *

><p>Strange things were happening, in the old Norse settlement of Kattegat. People didn't fully understand it, but then again, how can one expect to understand a sudden spike of wild wolf attacks near the village outskirts, merely a few steps away from the crowds and buildings of civilisation, followed by reports of people waking up without remembering how they got there, visions and hallucinations of giant eyed trees larger than buildings and outrageous claims of being attacked by giant tentacled beasts.<p>

It was all more than a little much for old man Haraldson.

Rubbing his face with weathered hands, he felt a much softer pair of hands rubbing his back, before wrapping themselves around his shoulders. The aged Viking smiled, an expression he rarely showed to anyone else, unless it was a smile of knowing superiority over another.

Ah, Siggy. He was not sure whether he earned her hand in marriage or the gods decided to hand her to him on a silver platter, and weather he even deserved it, but he could harldly imagine life with another woman. Surely, without hesitation he would slay any man who thought that he could share her with him.

He just did, actually. Yesterday. A housecarl, named Olafur, who thought that merely because he had been in service to him far longer than the rest, meant that he could be entitled to "special privilages" as sleeping with the Earl's own wife. _Ha!_ What foolishness. If any man thought he can rise above his station with acts such as this, then such men deserved to die.

"It has been a long day, dear..." she said from behind him. "Why are you up here so late, needlessly burning down precious candle wax, hm?"

Her hands stayed as they were, while her body moved to crouch down beside him.

"It's all about that Ragnar Lodbrok, isn't it?" she asked.

The Earl sighed. "Yes. He left on his little ship him and his fellow traitors have made. I am... conflicted. A part of me wishes Thor would simply strike them down at the sea and kill them all before they ever come back; another part to me is cursing myself for letting them go when I could have just killed them while they were all still, as an example to those who dare subvert me, for I cannot simply allow random farmers to undermine my authority, can I?

... But, then again, a third part of me is intensely curious about what they could possibly find there, in the west, if it _were_ to find something else than open water over there..."

He put his head in his hands, clearly deep in thought.

"Then again, if they _did_ find something worth going all the way over yonder for, then they would be proving me wrong, in front of all of my subjects..."

"Hush, my dear..." she said, cupping her hands around his head. "Why worry? Like I have said: Our enemies will _not_ prevail. Not. One. Even if trust is something you cannot give freely these days, won't you at least your wife? Eh?"

She tilted her head, as if waiting for him answer, but as he was about to open his mouuth, she spoke again. "And besides..." she looked to her left, and then to her right. "Merely sitting here and waiting for your head to get heavier, while everyone one else slumbers would do you no good at all."

The one lit flame in the room flickered.

"... You are right. I do this matter no good merely by sitting around and worrying about it." he said, standing up. "I believe I shall be retiring for the night."

"Yes. Do not mind me, I'll be following you in a moment."

Siggy smiled behind his back. The moment he touches the bed, he will fall into a deep sleep, not to wake up until the sun starts to peek above the horizon. It was not too hard to do so, he was tired enough already, it only needed her to give him a nudge here and there.

That was her _modus operandi:_ small nudges and pushes, both in magic and not. Easy enough for previous purposes, but for her current project, she needed someone with a little more... firepower.

She needed her daughter.

* * *

><p>"It seems, like many strange and interesting things have happened here while I've been gone, eh?" the recently returned Ragnar, father of Gyda, said over dinner.<p>

"It could have been anything..." his wife countered, taking a drink. "There was nothing in them that suggested that things like spirits and the Gods had anything to do with it."

"Oh, come now. Sightings of monsters, crowds of people waking up in the middle of the street. Obviously, Loki has taken interest in this fool town, after me and my companion's outrageous quest to the west, and is now fooling around, seeing if he can get us to do anything even _more_ outrageous." he concluded, leaning back with a smug look on his face. A face made of hubris, if there ever was one.

Gyda looked and smiled at the family's new slave, some monk from the west named Athelstan, implicitly apologising for her father's overbearing behavious. She quite liked the man, she concluded. She wondered if his land also had magic, and if they all kept it as much of a secret as herself does.

Then again, if her father's totally mundane band of warrior were able to kill loads of them and capture some more, they probably didn't.

Her father has just announced that he was leaving again for the west the next day, and that he would be taking mother along with him this time. The monk will be the one in charge while they're gone.

Bjorn, predictably, being the daddy's boy that he is, asks why the slave would be "put over" him, his own son, whose voice hasn't even cracked yet.

Mother threatened the priest with bodily harm if he allowed either one of them to get hurt. Honestly, Gyda was more worried for the priest's sake than her own. Getting dragged all the way from his home, all the way to this crazy land of hers where ancient magical artefacts run loose and only barely held back from destroying everything by a little girl (that would be her).

* * *

><p>A sudden blast of telepathy woke her up in the middle of the night.<p>

**[Master, hostile presence detected. Headed for your location at high speed!]**

Quickly jumping out of bed, she took extra-special care to make sure she didn't accidentally wake up her brother or the priest, before heading over to a section of the cottage's walls. Te ones facing the direction of the threat.

Gyda placed her hand upon it, and forced her magic over the few centimetres of wall o form a shield on the other side.

"_Aargh!_" a strangled voice resounded from outside.

Rushing outside, she transformed into her barrier jacket as she did so. Anyone moving that fast over the ocean must not merely be a mundane threat!

Flying out the door of her house, she came face-to-face with the unknown assailant, who was rubbing her face in pain, she assumed.

She was a mage, just like her. A black riding cloak was worn over a black shirt and a pair of black trousers tucked into ebony boots. The only thing that livened up the whole all-black ensemble was a lightning bolt motif that run over the entirety of her getup. Rows of tiny lightning bolt symbols on the side of her boots, a long lightning bolt similarly adorning the sides of her trousers, a pattern of criss-crossing electricity over her shirt and around the mantle, and a giant lightning bolt on the back of her cloak.

She also wields a device, a black bardiche with a grey blade on top.

"Why are you attacking my home?" Gyda managed to say to her.

"Why?" The assailant tilted her head, as if the question had been asked by a child and that the answer should have obvious already.

"Because your father is a threat to the Earl, and so I'll kill you and your entire household to make a point when your traitorous parents return."

Gyda's grip on Raising Heart tightened.

"And also, because you are a mage, and with you being a mage, there comes a chance that the rest of your family might also develop magic. So I'm also culling out the competition, as it were."

She then pointed her device at her. Now, stay still while I take out you and your brother. Once your parents arrive, I'll kill them, too."

"No, I won't let you!"

In a flash of speed, Gyda was upon her, swinging Raising Heart at her head. It was blocked, barely, by Thyri's black polearm of a device.

It was an impressive burst, to be honest. Thyri felt that she would've been out of the fight entirely had that swing landed. What was less impressive, however, was the fact that Raising Heart had suffered a crack at the point where their two weapons met, and that Thyri was slowly overpowering the other girl in a contest of strength.

**[Master, you do remember that I am not a melee-oriented device, corrent?]** Raising Heart reminded her user.

_Oh_ _cr-SORRY!_ _I'm_ _sorry_, _I'm_ _reall_, _really_ _sorry_, _Raising_ _Heart._ _I-I_ _guess_ _I_ _really wasn't thinking straight during that last moment. She was just there, talking about how she'll kill my family and all and..._

Gyda's opponent gritted her teeth. "_Enough. _Bardiche."

**[Understood. Haken Form.]**

The blunt end of the polearm quickly gave way to a to a long scythe blade made of crackling lightning magic.

"Gyah!"

Gyda ducked under the blade that suddenly appeared, barely missing it by inches from the top of her head. A few strands of hair fluttered down, sliced-off by magic lightning that would make Thor guffaw in appreciation.

She quickly broke away from the weapon lock and retreated as far back to her family homestead as she dared to. She looked over her shoulder, and saw that the other girl was intent on chasing her.

She was about to bet it all on a risky plan she just thought up on the fly. She was scared out of her wits, but what warrior doesn't juggle with fate every once in a while? The only thing she has left to do is roll with the punches of fate's misfortune with poise and confidence.

For a brief moment, Gyda thought about her mom.

"Raising Heart, you ready?"

**[Yes, my master. Divine Shooter.]**

Right on cue, she started generating about a dozen glowing pink balls, and they all started to orbit around her, like miniature moons.

"Shoot!"

A single orb came racing forward, but Thyri merely shifted her body a few inches to her right to avoid it.

Another ball came screaming out. Faster, this time. Tyri dodged this one, too, but only barely. A few hundred million calculations made by machine minds and fed to the user told Thyri that the orb's expected flight path was expected to land on the left side of her body, and so she dodged right, and continued doing so for the subsequent barrages, all for more efficient dodging.

And that was where the battle was at for the next few seconds, with Gyda firing a single one of her Divine Shooters at her, while she keeps on dodging right as she advances on her position.

"Shoot!"

Dodge.

"Shoot!"

Dodge.

"Shoot!"

Dodge.

"Shoot!"

Dodge.

"Shoot!"

Dodge.

"Shoot!"

Dodge.

Thyri actually started to grit her teeth and simmer inside.

_That insolent mage girl! Who does she think she is, that she would think the daughter of the Earl will easily succumb to such a repetitive and simplistic attack!? I'll show her, I'll _definitely _show her who's the better mage here! Bardiche!_

**[Sonic Move]**

Anyone who knew Thyri in her mundane life would have been very surprised to have such thought pour out of her head, for she was nowhere this boastful or bashful normally, despite having many reasons to be.

But then again, this is about as far from a normal situation as you can get around these parts.

The sudden burst of speed caught Gyda off-guard, but she regained her bearings enough to remember that there was a third dimension to all flying air battles, and dodged straight up. She lowered Raising Heart, winding up to cast another spell.

"Divine..."

Automatically, Thyri's body began to move to her right, but what she didn't know was that her enemy wasn't aiming straight for her the moment she called the spell.

No, Raising Heart aim was off slightly to the side. Thyri's right, in fact.

"_Bustaaaaaahhh!"_

"Wha_-_"

They were close, almost within grabbing distance of each other. In a space this close, Thyri could barely have time to process what was even happening, let alone dodge the gigantic beam of light that suddenly formed in front of her face, especially right after dodging the millionth Divine Shooter in a row from that seemingly worthless farm girl.

Her opponent now dazed, and temporarily blinded due to the sheer radiance of a Divine Buster to the face, as well as the shock of having suddenly received pain equatable to a full-grown oxen takleing her in the face, Gyda took the opportunity and grabbed her by the Barrier Jacket.

With great force, she headbutted her in the forehead.

She then headbutted her again.

And again

And again

And again

And again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and_ again and again and again._

Both foreheads were starting to draw blood.

"You"

*Smack*

"Do"

_"Not!"_

*Smack*

_"Dare!"_

*Smack*

_"Lay!"_

*Smack*

_"One!"_

*Smack*

_"Finger!"_

*SMACK*

_**"On!"**_

_*SMACK*_

_**"My!"**_

_*SMACK*_

_**"Family!"**_

_***SMACK***_

That last headbutt sent Thyri barrelling from the sky into the water. Gyda saw her floating prone on the water, but also saw her glow yellow and disappear in a flash of light, accompanied by a spinning yellow Mid-Childian magic circle. Bardiche had teleported his master to safety before she could do anything.

After a few moments, the girl clad in pink and green started to feel her forehead sting and throb, she quickly touched down on the tiny beach in front of the house and de-transformed. Sitting on the sand, she held a hand to her forehead and pulled it down. It was stained with blood.

"Ahahaha, I guess I really wasn't using my head when I was using my head, wasn't I?" she said, giggling at her own little joke as she did so. Blinking, she felt (and then saw) a trickle of blood run down all the way from her forehead to drip off the tip of her nose.

"Geez, how am I going to explain this to my parents, Raising Heart?" Her device did not have an answer for her.

* * *

><p>Deep in the space that lies both beside and beyond normal space, a ship sails. Right now, the waters are mostly calm, with no storms in sight, but that will change soon.<p>

"Okay, tell me again, _why _are we going all the way to a backwater planet with barely a whit of magical potential at all, anyway?" a young, blonde-haired girl complained. She was seated right in front of a miniaturised depiction of inter-dimensional space.

"Because..." another lady started, this one looking more like an adult. "A sudden source of faith appeared to me, when there hasn't been for millions of years. Aren't you curious, too, Ms. Bannings?"

"I still don't get it." the blonde responded. "I mean, you're a goddess, I would guess that receiving worship is kind of in the territory, you know? I mean, the time period we're all tracking this down to kind of predates Mid-Childa's destruction by a really, really, really, _seriously_ long time. We're talking like, past the lifespans of even the most long-lived of deities kind of time. I don't think it's that far-fetched to... wait."

Pausing her speech to count on her fingers solve intensely complex mathematical problems, she sweatdropped. "Err, if the Warring Age was approximately a thousand years before the 0 WD*, then Earth's AD is way older than the Warring Ages, but the time we're headed to is way before 0 AD so..."

The blonde looked up.

"... You haven't even been born yet, Ixpellia-san."

"Don't forget, Alice-chan..." another crewmember added, a female, looking much the same age as her blonde compatriot, but with purple hair and more asiatic features. "That when the Houses of Time wiped out Mid-Childia, they didn't just wipe out the planet, and every planet they held therof, they also erased their _timeline_ as well. That means their entire trail of existence from every single point in time, past, present, _and_ future. They were very thorough, which makes it even more baffling that somebody would worship someone which technically does not exist."

At this, the blonde human now identified to us by the name of Alice Bannings pointed at the brunette-Saint King-turned-diety, and then at a certain blue-haired cyborg snoozing somewhere off to the side, before pointing back the brunette.

. . .

"_AAARRGGHH!_ WHY DOES TIME-TRAVEL HAVE TO BE SO _FUCKING_ _**CONFUSING!?"**_

At this, the purplette could only sigh. "I warned you, Alice-chan." said TSUKIMURA-010101101, venerable robot ancestor of Suzuka Tsukimura. "I told you your squishy, feeble human mind would be unprepared for the complexities of spanning the space-time continuum, but _noooo, _you just_ had _to go looking for adventure, didn't you, Alice-chan?"

"Hey, relax, will ya, people? I'm trying to catch some shut-eye here..." the blue-haired cyborg yawned from her perch somewhere high in the ship's scaffoldings.

"Oh yeah, and what the hell would you need sleep for, _Captain_ _Subaru?_" Alice-chan ground out.

The Captain just waved her off. "I'm only part-cyborg. And to move on from that, the place where we're going to full of _vikings! _Real, live historical vikings!" she said, nearly falling off her perch in excitement. "Vikings are cool, right?"

* * *

><p>*WD: White Devil<p>

I've noticed that I haven't gotten a lot of reviews. Please, reader, whether you think my story is good or complete crap, please let me know!  
>Don't forget to make constructive, though, because I can't improve without it.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: An Explosive First Contact

High above, in the great northern seas, two mages faced off against each other, one robed in black and yellow, the other in pink and a deep forest green.

The seas were stormy. The one in more contrasting colours started it via magic and the power of one of the Lost Logia she had sealed, in order to activate and get at the three hidden beneath the sea's surface. The other girl came by, just in time.

Charging forward, Thyri subjected Gyda to a number of rapid slashes and thrusts before she could retreat very far, which the latter avoided admirably, though just barely. And the ones she couldn't dodge, she blocked using Raising Heart.

After almost a full minute of this, both mage and device were battered. Still, she was all-too-ready to continue the fight, judging by the fire in her eyes.

"Heh..." the girl in black and yellow said, a small smirk coming to her face, the first time she had shown an expression other than a scowl at the other girl. "you know, for a mere peasant farm girl... you're pretty good."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, up in Earth's orbit, the space-<em>and<em>-time cruiser Earthra's (for that was it's name) many, many doodads and sensors started going crazy.

"We're getting some really insane readings down there, Captain Nakajima!" Alice informed the blue-haired cyborg, who was also the de-facto team leader by dint of being the only one with actual command experience amongst them.

Subaru just gaped, after looking at a closeup of the source of all the magic flying around just then. And it wasn't just any vanilla surprised gape on her face. It was the extra-strength ind, like when you find out that your parents made homemade pornos. Firsthand.

"Oh you have _got_ to be bloody kidding me, I'd recognise those devices anywhere."

"Huh?" the blonde crew girl sounded, before looking more closely at the screen as well. The screen showed two people who were obviously mages. One was a young female in a pink and deep green barrier jacket, wielding a white-and-pink staff with a gold tip holding a round red gem. She was facing off against another, older girl who wore an all black outfit with the lightning bolt designs breaking up the ebony, and was wielding a schyte-shaped device with a yellow blade made of pulsing, crackling magic.

"Wait a minute, I feel like I should recognise those devices they're wielding..."

"That's because you _should!_" Subaru snapped, suddenly standing up. "Those two devices are _Raising Heart_ and _Bardiche,_ _**godammit!**_ Their wielders are totally different now, but I'd recognise the weapons of my old teachers and commanders when I see them! C'mon, Mach Caliber!"

At her command, her current getup was replaced with a barrier jacket that consisted of a pair of denim short-shorts, midriff-exposing top, metal gauntlets, metal knee-pads, roller skates, white headband and a white open jacket to complete the look. The same as always, basically.

She then closed her eyes and started casting up a teleport spell.

"Wait, Captain, wherever are you going?" asked TSUKIMURA-010101101, the other crewmember on this wandering time-ship.

"Where do you think?" a young-looking, woman with hair the colour of flames answered, a smile forming from centuries of familiarity. "Subaru's gonna jump into the fray, yet again."

* * *

><p>The two Norse magical girls eyed each other very intently, and with more than a little wariness. Their weapons shifted ever-so-slightly In their hands, both devices and their masters on the lookout for the first attack to break the stare down, which neither girl was willing to commit to.<p>

They were both floating over the open sea, the seas stirring below them, a storm spinning into place in the dark clouds above them. A few droplets of rain started bouncing off their barrier jackets.

Suddenly, a flash! Thyri, it seemed, was growing mighty impatient, and wished to slay the younger girl as soon as possible, so that she may return to her mother victorious and with all the artefacts of power in hand.

A bolt of lightning flashed briefly around them, coming from the storm artificially brewed by Thyri. For the briefest of moments, it coated their entire vision with blinding white, which disguised the most unexpected thing to happen to both of them since they were both found by Raising Heart and Bardiche.

"Alright, that's _enough_, you two! Put down your devices _right now._"

A voice called out from the blue. It was a commanding tone that dared you to protest against it. And get socked in the face for your troubles. It almost reminded Gyda of her mom. Almost.

When their vision cleared up, both girls started to see the newcomer to the fray. It was a woman, older than either of them, and with blue hair that was very nearly purple. The sheer unrealness of the hair colour alone would have sent lesser ladies shuddering in fear that an otherworldly spirit, or maybe even a valkyrie had arrived, perhaps, to steal away their souls from their still-too-young bodies.

Gyda, at least, did not panic right away, for she had seen people with funkier hair colours in the recordings in Raising Heart's database, but she was still massively shocked. Only lands that saw high usage of magic could see people with shades of hair other than black, brown or blonde.

She could see that the strange, blue-haired woman had stopped their devices from meeting one another, her gauntleted hands grabbing a weapon each, with her body in-between them, preventing the two of them from clashing any further.

"R-Raising Heart..." Gyda weakly called out, having forgotten in her blind panic to use telepathy. "Standby Mode, now!"

**[Standing By!]**

In an instant, the white staff that the cyborg's hand had been holding dissolved into pink magic, as was the rest of the ancient device, leaving only the gem floating in mid-air.

Before Subaru could grab it, the Norse girl grabbed it first, a burst of pink flashing past her face, and then beyond, as she dashed away from the scene as quickly as possible.

A moment later, Thyri also went back to her senses, and immediately pumped more magic into Bardiche, willing it's blade to grow longer.

The surprised turn of the head Subaru made, to avoid getting beheaded, also gave the other Norse girl an opening to grab her device and fly off in pursuit of her mortal enemy.

"H-Hey! Come back here!"

The Belkan brawler immediately gave chase.

Looking back, Gyda saw both the Earl's daughter, as well as that mysterious lady who interrupted their fight, hot on her heels.

She panicked again, only to come up with a plan on-the-fly, when she saw the hustle and bustle of Kattegat below.

* * *

><p>Thyri cursed her rotten luck once more, as she saw the farm girl touch down on the outskirts of town, just out of sight range of the normal people, and then quickly dashed along the ground before cancelling her magic entirely and entered the crowd, walking around the side of a building.<p>

She couldn't follow her. People would start asking questions if the daughter of the Earl were to be spotted walking around town, all alone. And then those questions would get to her _father._

Now, she loved her father very much, that much was to be certain, but it was still _imperative _that he wouldn't know. Mother was insistent on that. He just wouldn't understand, after all.

So, lacking any other choice, she flew off in the direction of her home.

* * *

><p>"Well, crap."<p>

For Subaru, that was surprisingly succinct.

_Hey, Cap'n, have you done holly-horsing around now? It's gettin' late now, come back here so we can read you a bedtime story and tuck you into bed._

_Alice-tan, zip it._

The cyborg sighed once more. Clearly, they needed a more nuanced plan of action, or they risk breaking the Prime Directive.

_We're an independent entity. The only federation we could possibly be answerable to was time-paradox'ed out of existence by cheating time-travellers who cheat. That's what I read, at least. _Snarked a certain blonde bridge bunny.

_Alice-chan, once more, shut up._

_Why're you so determined to chase them down, anyway? What'll we do once you have them in your crutches? In fact, Nakajima-san, you've been acting real weird ever since you spotted what those two were holding. Look, I know they're precious ancient magical artefacts and all, but... were you really _that _close to them, Subaru-chan?_

The blunette sighed. _Yes. I don't know, but it feels... _wrong _somehow. Those two were some of the greatest mages in their time, goddamn living legends. Moreover than that, they were_ my_ legends. Nanoha especially. Goddamn, she saved me from a burning when I was, like, what, ten? Now that was serious superhero shit right there. That was the moment that inspired my entire TSAB career, I could never forget it. And after that, I went on to train under her! Personally! How crazy was that!_

_So watching those those two wield those..._

_So watching those two swinging them around is kind of like seeing two-bit drug peddler using Excalibur to fight off crazy drunk homeless people, random muggers and the police. It's not just unsightly, it's downright _disgraceful_ and an insult to their memories._

. . .

A new voice entered the magically-enabled conversation, this one as light as a feather, and yet possesed of a certain knowingness and logic that comes with having lived longer than most civilisations.

_Maybe it is not an insult at all, Subaru-chan._

_Ix?_

_Let me vouch for the girls. At the very least, for the one holding the Nanoha-san's staff. You remember her origin story, right? How she got her start? Nine years old, Uminari City..._

_Yes, yes, read the storybook, studied the textbook facts, was first in line to see the movie. I know all about it._

_So you at least should how Raising Heart and Nanoha-san first met. Nanoha didn't choose Raising Heart..._

_Raising Heart chose _her.

_Yes, exactly. Raising Heart detected the vast amount of magical potential inherent in this otherwise completely normal, if somewhat severe-minded, nine-year old Japanese girl. Raising Heart detected this and therefore it synchronised better with her than with any master it may have had previously._

Subaru paused, and looked over the ocean at the stone-age fishing-and-trading village that was Kattegat.

_Are you saying that, this girl might have... just as much magical potential as Nanoha-san?_

_Well, maybe not exactly, but certainly enough to have Raising Heart allow her to use it in high-powered shenanigans like the fight we just intervened in a few seconds before._

_Hmm... But what about Bardiche-san? Admittedly, I wasn't as close to Fate-san as I was to Nanoha-san, but..._

_Well, from what I could remember, Bardiche was remembered as a level-headed device overwhelmingly devoted to Fate-san, his first master. I don't know a lot about the golden triangle myself, but I assume it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Bardiche-san had judged his current wielder to be in the same league as Ms. Testarossa-Harlown, at the very least, if it had allowed her to wield it._

The cyborg "hmm"ed in thought as she looked down at the settlement. "Dammit, Ixy, why do you always have to make so much sense, and this does make things more interesting from now on... hmm."

A third voice crackled in. It was a more cultured voice than the previous two, as well as far more even, almost robotically so.

_You are talking to yourself again, Subaru-san, please stop. And, if I may inquire, what are your plans for those two now._

_I was thinking of doing what the TSAB did with Nanoha-san, a long, long time ago... _Subaru flicked her hair back in determination. _We're gonna go in, tell the girl more about magic and the wider universe, filling in whatever gaps in the info that Raising Heart has almost certainly given her. After that, depending on the choices they'll make, we'll either settle down and be a hub with all things magical on this Earth, or they'll leave with us to see the stars._

_Hnn... Personally, I have reservations about the first possibility, but I guess this is where you're Captain's authority comes in. Alright then, Captain, what is the plan? I personally recommend teleporting the girls directly unto the ship._

_Oh, come now, TSU-san. This is the same world that would produce Hayate-san and Nanoha-sensei. I'm sure there are plenty more down there, waiting in the bulwarks. And as for a plan... hmm, I'm thinking more of an... on-site meeting myself._

* * *

><p>"Here ya go, ma'am, one smoked fish-on-a-stick."<p>

"Thanks, here you go!"

"... _Hey, _what the hell is this!?"

"Oops, sorry! I guess you don't take arcade quarters, huh?"

Subaru, Alice and TSUKIMURA were down there, near Gyda's house and approaching it, ever so subtly.

And then the screaming started.

"What the hell is going on!" asked Alice to nobody in particular, though it was pretty damn clear what was happening.

Men in horseback were riding in, burning the buildings and slaughtering anyone they could see. People were screaming, and running away, but normal human beings can't outrun horses.

"Subaru-san, this is a wholly unexpected scenario. What do we do now?"

Before Subaru could even think about this, she ducked down to avoid an overhead axe swing that would've beheaded any lesser person, and then turned around and punched the offender into a nearby building. The structure buckled and collapsed over the dazed attacker.

At this point, more than a few men stopped and pointed at Subaru. Blinking, she looked down to see that she had instinctively switched to her barrier jacket when she dodged that hatchet.

She sighed in exasperation. "Well, I was hoping for this operation to be a lot more low-key, but ah well. Girls, feel free to go _all out!_" she said, activating her rollerskates and punching a horse so hard both it and it's rider went soaring in a parabolic arc into the sea.

Blinking, Alice took a second to process that thought, before shouting "Hell yeah!" and pulling out a phaser.

Rolling her eyes at her comrade's childishness, TSUKIMURA casually opened up her left hand to reveal an arm cannon built into her left, well, arm.

* * *

><p>Gyda (well, actually, the whole family aside from Ragnar, who was out hunting) boggled as she watched the blue-haired woman and her apparent (and equally strange) allies as they fought off the men that were attacking these parts and had already burned their house.<p>

They were hiding behind an overturned cart. Moving quickly, they attempted to move into the surrounding forest, when one of the strange newcomers, the one with purple hair, looked over in their direction and pointed her definitely-magical-of-some-sort weapon at them.

She felt her head being forced down as the whole family ducked the blast, only for Gyda to look behind them and see that she was actually aiming at a couple of men who had sneaked behind them.

They were all sprawled on the ground now, a few feet away.

Standing up and looking back at front, she saw that the purple-haired girl was now a mere few inches from their faces. Gyda fell on her bum again. Bjorn actually shrieked in surprised terror. The purple-haired girl showed no emotion.

"Come with us..." she said. "We will not let you come to harm."

* * *

><p><em>Hey, Ixy-chan, you sure all the faith's coming from this here building?<em>

_Yes, a hundred percent._

_Well, if you say so._

The doors to the great hall were kicked in with more force than a rampaging bull. It was enough to break the doors off their hinges and slide across the floor.

All the inhabitants of the hall stood up at once, the Earl and his wife included.

"Who are you people and what are doing just barging in here!" the Earl bellowed.

Subaru looked at him. "Whoa, are you the ones that sent the guys to slaughter a part of your own town? You're pretty damn ruthless for an old man."

"Moving on from that..." TSUKIMURA said, stepping forward. "We are here as emissaries of Ixpellia, the Dark Goddess."

"R-Really? Has she actually come, personally, to grant me and my family aid? Ixpellia is surely too generous." Siggy said, bowing to them, much to the surprise of the other people in the hall.

"Nah, you've got it all wrong, miss." Alice added. "What she actually said was that she didn't like you bothering her for a little power up, and won't grant it. Nope, not even a pint."

"E-Excuse me?" Siggy faltered.

"She didn't put it in quite so crude terms, but Alice is telling no falsehood." TSUKIMURA said. "She refuses to grant power to those who only wish it for selfish purposes, to gain dominion over other people."

"Y-You..." Siggy forced out. "I do this all for my _family!_ How do I know you simply aren't telling the truth!?"

_Because I say so. _The voice of Ixpellia rang out in her mind. And there was no doubt at all that it _was _her, for the same energies that Siggy felt when praying to her was also felt when she heard her voice, lilting and yet commanding in her head.

_Everything they have said is true, _girl._ I do not approve of your power-seeking, even if you say it is for everyone. If I were to grant power, in the exceptionally rare case that someone might actually convinve this old goddess to do so, then I would grant to everyone, such that nobody is higher or lower than another._

Siggy gritted her teeth.

The Earl looked at his wife, completely stupefied.

"Dear? Could you explain just _what_ is going on here?"

"It is none of your business, you simple-minded man. Besides, you wouldn't understand, even if I told you, _husband dear._" she said with such venom in her voice that it actually made Haraldson step back a bit. She pushed past him.

Stumbling into her hidden room, Siggy picked up the magic grail that had held all the monsters trapped inside, and threw it too the floor.

The Lost Logia creatures burst out the top of the great hall and started attacking the crowd outside.

Once again, people screamed.

* * *

><p>Outside the hall, Gyda looked up, shocked as all hel, as many, many lost logia creatures burst out of the roof of the great hall and started raining destruction on the vast crowd outside.<p>

They were definitely of the same type that she had been sealing herself thus far, in the few months that she had served as Kattegat's magical protector from all things monstrous and not of this world, though she herself was sure that she had never fought the specimens pouring out right now and sealed them.

She looked to Raising Heart, and she (it was starting to feel wrong, calling her earnest and faithful companion thus far as an "it") confirmed that all of the lost logia monsters she had collected herself thus far were still safely dormant in her.

_That only means..._

Gods, she was going to punch that vile girl with the lightning schyte any day now, if she could find her, damn her status, first she threatened her family, and now _this!_

"Gyda, run!"

Gyda felt her arm pulled along by her very insistent mother. Just a few steps away, a giant flying snake-looking thinking froze a building solid and shattered it with a flick of it's tail, before flying off and gobbling up a half-dozen screaming, fleeing men and women afterwards.

_I have to do something!_

This cannot do. She needed to transform, and fly off to protect her village! But she was being pulled away by the mass of people, including her family, who were helpless against the magical terrors.

She needed to pull herself away, go someplace where nobody was looking, transform and-

She saw another one of the things forcefully turning little children into flying, unstoppable attack drones.

Screw this. Why did she care whether or not her magic powers were revealed to the public or not? The crazy gits using magic like they owned the place made that a moot point, anyway.

So with a tug so forceful her mother probably didn't expect it, she freed her arm and held out Raising Heart to the sky

"Gyda!"

"_Magical Lyrical!_"

* * *

><p><em>Damn it, mother, was this part of your plan, too?<em>

Somehow, Thyri felt in the back of her mind that it wasn't.

Turning around she saw the tip of a gigantic tooth-claw thing mere stopping inches mere inches from her face, before the creature it was attached to roared in pain and shattered into a million fragment by, as what Thyri saw now, was Gyda hitting it's weak spot (a great, big glowing red gem) for massive damage with a Divine Buster.

Their eyes met and the farm girl flew up to meet the nordic noble. Thyri held out Bardiche in front of her warily, but Gyda reached out and showed her an open palm.

. . .

Gyda spoke first. "Look, I don't like you very much, but right now there's a bigger threat here than little girls threatening each other's families. So, temporary truce?"

"That sounds nice. I don't know what in Midgard has gotten to my mother, but it's causing far too much noise for my comfort."

"Than it's a deal."

They both rushed forward, dashing past each other to cut down the monsters sneaking behind the other girl's back.

* * *

><p>The moment Ragnar ran in to see what the commotion was about, all the unearthly creatures he had seen made him feel as though a part of him started to crack, just a little.<p>

And then he saw Gyda, his _own_ _daughter, _all dressed up in a fine and colourful cloak and wear and he was sure she never had before, and which was _glowing. _But even more than that, she was _flying, _too. And then he saw that there was, in fact, _two_ flying little girls (one of them he recognised as the Earl's daughter), and that they were both fighting back giant beasts at such a rate that would pale even Sigurd the Serpent Slayer

When he saw all of this, he felt a part of himself, a rather big part, the part that stood for blood and combat and conquest and manliness and iron, just shrivel away and die.

Ragnar turned to see that a walking corpse about to claw him was instead caught in the chest by a thrown javelin, and he saw his brother and a band of other warriors approach. Including his wife.

He turned to her. "Lagertha, are the kids..."

"Bjorn and Athelstan are safe with the women and children. But Gyda..."

Rollo stepped forward. "Brother, out of the great hall, leigons of foul beasts have emerged and started to attack us! Whatever shall we do!?"

At this, Ragnar Lothbrok looked up at the tiny visages of young girls fighting off beast a hundred times bigger than then, than any man could possibly hope to be, and then looked at what was happening at the ground level. Specifically, at a huge number of what can only be described as overgrown wolves crossed with pigs, feasting upon people like grain. The two flying girls hadn't noticed them yet, occupied as they were by the bigger fry.

"We back them up!" he cried, raising his hatchet to sky, and they charged, doing what they can, however little or unlikely.

* * *

><p>The battle for Kattegat was long and hard, but eventually the squishier species won out after a few hours, in no small part to a certain few that wielded magic like they had never seen before.<p>

As you might have guessed, everyone needed a break after that.

The crew of the Eartha sat on the beach, along with Gyda, and a couple of others not worth mentioning.

"Alright, now that we've well and truly borked this world's timeline, what I'm curious is, what'll happen after this?" asked the ever-sarcastic blonde of the crew, Alice Bannings.

"Well, it all depends on Gyda-san now. What do you think? Do you wanna come with us and see the wonders of the universe with us?" Subaru asked her.

"C'mon, it'll be _fun~_" Alice added with a smirk.

After considering this monumental decision for a few moments, furrowing her brow righteously as she did so, she eventually shook her head.

"N-No thank you. To be honest, your offer sounds very tempting, but... I have my family here. It doesn't feel right to just up and leave them, you know? Besides, I feel like I can do a lotof good for Kattegat, for my people, with these powers..." she said in responce, holding up Raising Heart's gen foem to look at it over the wide-open ocean and the incoming sunset.

"Well, that settles it, then. We're staying here to aid the people, too."

"H-Huh!? Subaru-san..."

"Oh, c'mon, didn't you remember what I said? First, it was Hayate-san and Nanoha-sensei. Now it's Gyda and Thyri. Just think, everyone, of how many other latent magic-users have all of this talent, and yet no ides how to use it probably?"

"Hm, if you put it that way, then I suppose it makes sense. Still, it's amazing how much the TSAB has overlooked this planet." TSUKIMURA said.

"Still, this is the Stone Age we're talking about, people. I don't really want to live in such ancient living conditions, and with such a harsh culture too, it's just... _ugh._" Alice said, pinching her nose.

"Oh, don't worry, Alice-san. You still get to stay in your comfy bunk in the spaceship." Ixpellia reassured her. "Besides, with all the interference we've already made to this world, I think it wouldn't be too out there that we could do some more... large-scale changes. Eh, Subaru-chan?"

"Yeah!" the blunette said, jumping unto a boulder. "Watch out, people of this world, 'cause your ass is gonna advance in all sorts of culturally egalitarian and technologically shiny ways, all way, _way_ ahead of schedule!" she said, with an enthusiastic grin that sent shivers down any witnesses that beheld that declaration.

And with that, all those present turned as one to watch the sunset.

It was a very nice sunset.

END


End file.
